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When I Called

I met God for the first time when I was six years old. I was riding in my grandmother’s car on the way to church. It was a warm and humid summer morning, windows down, the smell of farm fresh air blowing through the old sedan, my legs sticking to the vinyl seat, and unruly pieces of messy ponytail tickling my nose as the winds blew. And we met.
I met God again years later when I was twenty-two, standing in the cold autumn rain. Thick, heavy gray clouds blanketed the sky, as I stared at a white plaster house that was never a home, a piece of me forever gone, forever longed for, yet never mine to have had. And we met. Kind of the same way you meet a stranger in line at a coffee shop. Except that He wasn’t a stranger. He was someone I had known my whole life.
I met Samina for the first time when I was thirty-eight years old. It was a beautifully gorgeous day in August. And we met. Not in the way I would have wanted, because it meant my son would have a kidney defect, and she would become his ever vigilant doctor. Yet still, it felt kind of the same way you meet one of your oldest friends from grade school. Except that she wasn’t really an old friend. She was someone I had only just met.

My relationship with God can be complicated at times. Not because it actually is…but rather, because I’m a part of it, and in turn, complexity ensues. I still feel very immature in my faith, and as a result, I often find myself fighting with God. I still want control. I still want answers. I still want reassurance that everything will be okay. But He is patient with me and remains by my side even when I don’t make it very easy to love me. I can’t see Him…but I know that He is there.

My relationship with Samina is never complicated. And realistically, you would think that it should be. We live a distance from each other. We are busy with family and work and seldom have moments to keep in touch. And yet we do. Over time and distance, we are building something. A friendship that is one of the safest places in the world to me. And while I don’t often get to see her as much as I would like…I always know that she is there.

This past year has been horribly painful for me. I’ve struggled with the clarity of friendship – to know what is real and what is illusion. I’ve been lost in the thick and deep woods of how things are, and how I would like them to be. I imagined the months would have been kinder to my soul. That I might have been kinder to my soul.

I’ve struggled through what felt like a hurricane of my own design. Anxiety. Worry. Doubt. Fear. I struggled to walk away from the lies and walk towards a better truth. I had struggled with the fears that I may never get to be who God wanted me to be…that I may never get to be who God intended me to be. That I would never be enough, do enough. I had struggled with the idea that my fear may forever hold me back. I had struggled to trust…to let go…to surrender. And in essence, what this really meant…was that I had struggled with God. And it had left me feeling very far from Him at times.

It had made me wonder if He forgot about me. If He stopped hearing my prayers for understanding. If He stopped feeling my pain. This, more than anything, had been enough to rip me apart.

Just as my grandmother drove the car down that country road all those years ago, dust rising in the air, leaving the view behind me nothing more than a cloud in the distance – not unlike many of the months that had recently passed by. When I got out of the car this time – concealed circles under my eyes, a physical ache and weariness in my body, the weight of seeming defeat on my shoulders, and all the pain in my heart – it wasn’t more than a few minutes before it happened…before the sting of all the hurts I’d buried deep, would press at the surface, and tears started pooling, streaming…before the desperation tried to break loose.

And there she was – Samina. My beautiful friend who – for what totals hours now – has let me cry and share my heart’s deepest fears, deepest longings. My beautiful friend who – while puddles form at my feet – helps hold the shattered pieces of my broken heart in the palm of her hands. My beautiful friend who – speaks words of love and truth that touch my soul. My beautiful friend who – met me right where I was, in the cloud of dust and hazy darkness, loves me in all my mess – came to my rescue.

When I think of all this…all that has transpired on a journey I never wanted to take, I am reminded of a fundamental truth…a truth that I nearly let pass me by in my river of sadness. I am reminded that while our own walk with God is just that…our own…our walk through this life was never meant to be taken alone. I am reminded that when Samina embraced the floodgates of my agony…it wasn’t just Samina. It was God radiating through Samina. It was our God whispering, “See…I’m here. I hear you. I ache for you. And you’re never alone.”

Because that’s what this life is really about. Crying together. Laughing together. Living together. Reaching out to the heavens…together.

When I think upon all this, I will forever be reminded of one of the most beautifully vulnerable moments of my life. A moment when the clouds parted and the light came pouring through. A moment when I called…and He answered.

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Grit & Grace Rising

Hi, I’m Laurel…
I am a wife. I am a mother to Luke, born prematurely due to HELLP Syndrome. Luke was born with a congential heart defect and a kidney defect. I work in education. And I am gritty.
I write the blog, Of Grit & Grace. It’s my space, my outlet and my way of working through some of life’s challenges. It’s my healing.
I believe in living each moment to the fullest because tomorrow is promised to no one. I believe in seeing the blessing instead of the burden, giving hope to the hopeless, and walking by faith.
I believe there is purpose in pain – we have to find it.
View all posts by Grit & Grace Rising